The State Line
by Sapphire Phantom
Summary: The L4D2 team runs into three survivors who are headed to Oklahoma. They question trusting them, but take a chance and join them. Leadership issues arise between members on both sides. Will they kill each other, or will zombies beat them to it? Nick/OC.
1. This is Awkward

A/N: First L4D fic, possibly my only one. Just about 2/3 of the dialogue in this chap is foul language, but I promise it's not gonna be that much in the future. The chap's also fairly short. I wanna see if anyone's interested. I hope you guys enjoy this. I don't own L4D2, blah blah blah, moving on.

Nick walked down the road slowly ahead of the others. The damn pilot had kicked them off of the helicopter because Ellis was being himself and it was automatically 'bitten behavior', whatever the hell that was. He decided to show pity on the kid for once and let it be. Now, here he was, leading the pack and just waiting for one of those zombie bastards to come out of nowhere. There hadn't been any unwanted guests for about ten minutes, and that worried Nick.

He tightened his grip on the crowbar he had when he heard feet shuffling. He waited, but there was no zombie activity. However, as he figured, that didn't last long. He wasn't sure what the shuffling had been, but he definitely knew what the loud bellow that he heard a few seconds later was. "TANK!"

He felt the ground shake a moment later and bolted backwards towards the others. He realized it was a bad move when it was too late, because the second he turned, the tank closed in on him and punched him, sending him flying into the wall of the closest building. He hit the ground hard and slowly rose, stumbling slightly. He reached behind him, only to remember he had been stupid enough to give the weapon to Coach earlier. "Damn it!" He looked around frantically for anything that could work and not get him killed while trying. He didn't find anything, so he was stuck just watching the other three fight them.

The tank finally had enough of chest and arm shots, and let out a final roar before it began to step backwards as it was falling. The bad thing was that the special infected was headed right for Nick. The conman cursed again and scrambled back, just in time, too. The tank hit the brick wall and crashed right through it before it hit the ground.

Nick's jaw dropped as the dust cleared. Not necessarily in reaction to the damage, either. It was in reaction to the three other people- human people- uninfected people- two men and a woman, staring back at him with looks of equal shock. Well, he hoped they were uninfected, at least. He found he couldn't even speak. He just stared, as the new three did.

Ellis did all the talking that was required when he went to see what Nick was gaping at. "Ho-_ly shit_!"

Rochelle and Coach joined them a moment later. Rochelle gasped while Coach just sputtered.

The other three still didn't move.

Ellis, being himself, took the new development in strides. He beamed and walked over to the wall that separated the two parties and stuck out his hand. "Hi y'all! I'm Ellis! You can come out! We promise we don' bite."

Nick groaned. Yes, in a zombie apocalypse, that was the perfect thing to say.

"Ummm…" The taller of the men stared at Ellis' hand.

Nick scowled. If he knew one thing, it was not to trust someone right off the bat… especially in this zombie apocalypse situation. They learned that the hard way with a couple that they had run into the previous month. They were all happy, then the next thing he, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis knew, they had guns to their heads, getting held up for medkits and weapons. Needless to say, when Nick found the man in town two days later, he made sure that the man couldn't walk from that point on. He turned his attention back to the three visitors. "Any of you guys bitten? Injured bad?"

"You mean infected?" The woman compiled the most coherent thing her group had said so far.

"We can ask you the same thing." The taller, blonde man replied again.

The shorter, younger man just watched the exchange, his dark eyes flitting down the line of the other four

The groups sized each other up for a few more moments. Once they realized there was no immediate threat, they took turns moving around, showing that they were not injured in any severe way. There was no sense in making enemies in fellow survivors, they knew that much. Trust was one thing, instant hate was another. They would all admit the airline-pat down position was a lame way of showing they were all alright, but they knew they didn't have time. They knew there were more zombies on the way. As if on cue, about twenty of more common infected came around the corner and ran at them. Not at all minding that the infected bastards had cut off the awkward meeting, they sprung into action and began cutting down the crowd. Nick wasn't going to lie for once. He automatically liked the taller man when he shot a zombie that was about to jump Nick from behind. The two just nodded quickly at each other before choosing their next target.

Once the zombies had been taken care of, the seven of them regrouped once more, realizing their was safety as well and strength in numbers, and from that show, they might as well stick together, even temporarily. They had to put trust aside, at least for now.

The taller man of the other group stepped forward. His short, blonde hair was disheveled, but somehow still managed to look neat, despite the spots of dried as well as drying blood on a couple of spots. He twirled the broken bottle he was holding, then replaced it in what looked like a hand-sewn holster he had by his wait. Nick noted that he looked like he was in the Armed Forces. "I'm Luke. These guys behind me are Riley and Damon." He pointed at the woman, then man respectively.

The woman, a brunette who was a couple of inches taller than Rochelle with a similar build, tucked the cricket bat she had under her arm. "Hi." She nodded at each of them, then looked at Ellis, who she had been next to for a good portion of the fight. "Nice shooting back there."

"Nice whackin' back there." Ellis replied and motioned at the bat, grinning.

Riley smiled.

Nick looked expectantly at the last one- Damon, apparently. He wasn't quite sure what to make of him. The man's dark brown, almost black hair was sticking out every which-way, and now he had this goody grin on. The conman shuddered, instantly getting an Ellis vibe. That was all he needed- two of the mechanic. Then it hit him. All he did was look and he got that vibe- holy shit. This was Keith. Keith had changed his goddamn name. He mentally kicked himself once he processed what he said. The heat and smell of the undead must've gotten to him. How dumb was that idea? The redneck would've been bouncing off the walls and screaming if Keith was in front of them. Once he realized all three were looking at him, he cleared his throat. The other group must've pegged him as the leader or speaker of the group. "I'm Nick, that's Ellis, Rochelle, and Coach."

Coach nodded. "Hey. Don't mean to copy the lady, but that was some fightin' skill from all of you back there. You guys have any trainin' 'fore the world went to Hell?"

Riley snorted and pointed at Damon. "Him and I, no. Luke here- he's a SEAL."

Nick looked at Luke and raised his eyebrows. "No shit!"

Luke mumbled something, then shrugged. "Yeah… didn't work out, actually. Got through the training, spent about a couple of months as a real SEAL, then… it kinda went downhill from there."

"That's still awesome, man!" Ellis went a little in front of Nick.

Luke laughed, comparing the young man to a kid in a candy store. "Glad I made your day."

Ellis just grinned at his new hero. His happiness didn't last long, because once again, zombies were ready to interfere. The second he heard a cackle, he whirled around. "Jockey!" The Jockey wasn't the first zombie to reach them. More common infected came after them. What they didn't count on was a hunter jumping and landing in the middle of the group, causing them to scatter further than they had hoped. Ellis was with Damon, the women were together, then it was Nick, Coach and Luke. The jockey jumped on Damon and Ellis tore after them to save the other young man. The hunter in turn cornered the girls. It had just pounced on Rochelle when it froze and fell to the side, dead. The girls peaked around the body to see Nick still holding up the pistol he had found in the middle of the scramble. A few gunshots, swings and shoves later, the survivors had one another battle, getting away with scratches and what sure were to become bruises. They regrouped once more.

Damon was holding his back, where the jockey had scratched him. "Shit… what was that?"

"A jockey, boy." Coach replied.

Damon blinked. "… 'a jockey'?"

"Nickname for those little bastards." Nick replied. "There are tanks, chargers, jockeys, spitters, witches…" He saw that they were looking at him like he was insane. "… We've had a lot of our time on our hands with this thing. We just name 'em."

"We see that." Luke nodded. "Same here –well, the time thing, at least. Well, you guys obviously mean business. We're headed to Oklahoma to see if Ri here's family is still around. You wanna join us? We could use you."

While Nick, Coach and Rochelle considered the idea, Ellis beamed. "Sure, we ain't got no place else to go! Those army boys kicked us out, anyways!"

Nick rolled his eyes. "It was _your_ fault, Ellis. You're the one who bugged the guy until he threw you out so we all came to your aid and got thrown out too."

"…I still say 'yeah'." Ellis replied.

Nick glared at the young man, then looked at the others. "Scuse us." He motioned for his team to follow, then went into one of the buildings, leaving the others to wait. "I don't know about this."

"I dunno, Nick. They seem okay." Rochelle replied.

"Yeah, so did Dirk and Suri, and look where that got us. That bullet he shot hit the wall an inch from your head, Ro."

"Honey, they don't have guns on them. They have a broken bottle, a cricket bat, and… I didn't see what the kid has."

"Yeah, a bottle to slash our throats, a bat to bash our heads in, and whatever to finish us off."

"Aw, come on, man!" Coach objected, wrinkling his nose in disgust.

"You can't tell me I'm wrong to question them." Nick objected.

"No, but…" Rochelle began, then groaned when they heard more common infected coming. "Can they just give us five minutes?!"

"Let 'em fight the others." Nick objected.

"Nick, that ain't fair. They helped us." Ellis replied.

"So did Suri and Dirk." Nick shot back. He wondered how many times he was going to have to mention the couple who conned them more than he conned people before… _this._

"Give them a chance." Rochelle countered. "They seem like better people than those guys right off the bat. Like Ellis said, sure, Suri and Dirk helped us set up camps, but not once did they save our asses in mid-fight like those guys just did."

"They didn't save us, they helped. There's a difference, Ro." Nick replied and went to turn towards one of the shattered windows in the room. He didn't count on practically being face to face with a zombie that had snuck up on them. "SHIT!" He hit the floor to avoid the swipe that came his way. He huffed and was just about to punch the zombie in the kneecap to knock over the sucker when the zombie let out a shriek of pain and collapsed- right on top of him. He shoved the body off of him and dragged himself back. He looked at his companions, then looked back at the corpse, finally noticing the top of a broken bottle sticking out of its back. A bottle that Nick had just seen recently. "Son of a bitch."

Luke, who had been right outside when the events unfolded, came in, held the zombie down with his foot, then yanked the bottle out of the zombie's back. "Hm." He twirled it once in his fingers, then looked at the others, who were staring at him, trying to figure out how he had heard the zombie, then how he had put the bottle into its back when he was feet away. "… I was a pitcher in high school and a little bit of college." He deadpanned. "…Carry on. No hard feelings if you don't wanna come, by the way. We don't blame you if you don't trust us. We've had our share of crazies." With that, he turned on his heel and walked out again.

The others just continued to gawk until Ellis found his voice. "So, Nick." He began. "… Wanna change what you just said about them savin' us?"


	2. NotSo Getting to Know You

**A/N: Chap's fairly short again. Just getting further into setting everything up. Review, tell me what you thought. I don't own L4D, blah blah blah.**

Nick honestly didn't know what to think of the new half of the group. The kid, Dave, Damon, whatever his name was, was originally going to be Nick's favorite of the bunch. He was quiet and distant, just what he wanted in this situation. That all came crashing down the second Ellis asked him where he was from. Now the kid wouldn't shut up, starting with talking about growing up in Texas, then going to college there, which is where his friends had found them, and the nicknames he had for the other two. Now Nick had number two on his 'Accidentally'-shoot-in-the-ass list. Take a wild guess who number one was. He even thought the other two would be the annoying ones- Luke, Mr. Military, and the woman. Now as they walked along on the main road, he found that they weren't annoying at all. They kept mostly to themselves unless a zombie came running at them, where they shouted warnings or praises for good shots or swings. After Damon started talking about whom Nick guessed was his version of Keith, Samson, the conman couldn't take it anymore. "Hey, kid. Take a breath and be quiet for two minutes, will ya? You're attracting the swarm."

"Aw, come on, Nick! We're just getting' to know each other. That's what we should do!" Ellis argued.

Nick decided against saying what a horrible idea getting to know each other in the middle of an apocalypses was, so he settled for the next best thing. "Hey, Sparky. The same goes for you. Shut the Hell up."

Damon blinked, then looked at Ellis. "He's not a very happy person, is he?"

Ellis shook his head. "Nope."

Nick scoffed. "I'm five feet away, Ellis. I can hear you."

Ellis looked at his new friend. "See?"

Damon nodded understandingly.

Nick rolled his eyes and kept walking. "Any idea how close we are to the state line?"

"Fifteen miles or so, give or take a few fights." Luke offered with a shrug of his own.

"Great." Nick mumbled.

"Aw, come on, Nick. It could be worse." Rochelle offered.

"How, Ro?!"

"Could be thirty miles or more." Coach cut in.

Nick muttered something under his breath, trying to hide the fact he agreed with Coach.

Coach chuckled, seeing right through the other man. "So now that Damon told Ellis where he came from and how he met up with you guys, let's hear your stories."

Luke smirked at Riley. "How about you start?"

"How about we keep the talking to a minimum?" Nick cut in.

Riley glanced at him, then looked up. "Hm. Well, during the start, I was in Louisiana visiting a friend. One second we're shopping, the next… a zombie came bursting into the place. Of course, everyone inside didn't know that yet. One of the cashiers approached the… thing, and a second later, the thing's practically ripping her apart. We all bolted… I got separated from my friend. Another zombie came outta nowhere and chased me. Somehow, I ended up by a dock. The thing cornered me, I backpedaled… right into the water. Next thing I know, I hear gunshots, then this one pops up and kills the zombie." She nodded sideways at Luke. "He killed the thing, then helped me out of the water. I don't even remember what he said, but it was along the lines of 'you're screwed unless you stick with me'." She laughed, as did Luke. Both seemed to have the same thought. "It was stupid to trust a stranger, now that I think back, but I probably wouldn't be here if I hadn't."

While Rochelle 'aw'ed and Coach and Ellis grinned appreciatively, Nick wanted to gag at how it went from serious to fluffy in seconds.

Coach looked at Luke. "Alright, how's about you, boy? Fill in the blanks."

Luke laughed. "It's similar to hers, actually. I was with friends, too. Well, my friends and my brother. We were all having drinks in a bar in Louisiana when a group of 'em came in through the open door and mauled a good portion of the people inside… counting one of my friends." The look of recollection in his eyes faded for a moment, replaced with one of grief, and maybe even guilt, until it faded. "My brother spotted a shotgun behind the bar. The bartender was a big pro-gun guy- not to mention the bastards had already gotten him. The four of us left took turns fighting them off. I mean, what the Hell else were we supposed to do? Anyway, we managed to get them all in the bar, only to see there were more coming. We all split up, stupid idea, like hers, but hey, we were still out of it from trying to figure out what was going on. It was a couple of days later of wandering around and looking for others when I saw Riley about to get attacked."

"So you played Mr. Macho Hero and came to the damsel in distress' rescue." Nick concluded.

Luke shot him a look, then shrugged again. "Guess so. Anyway, now my main focus is finding my brother. I've heard him on the radio calling for help… the radio's my only connection… my friends might be dead for all I know."

Coach frowned. "So where does this one come in?" He pointed at Damon, who looked at them with mock disappointment.

Luke smiled, punching the younger man playfully on the shoulder. "Sorry, bro. Well, turns out he was wandering, too. Ri and I were getting supplies from some store, then outta nowhere, this kid comes charging out from behind a shelf, holding a crowbar. Jackass thought we were zombies." He winked at the young man to ensure 'jackass' wasn't meant to insult.

Damon laughed. "Hey, you guys were shuffling your feet and not talking. What else was I supposed to think?"

"You weren't the only uninfected person left in the world?" Riley looked back at him.

Rochelle, Coach and Ellis chuckled.

Damon considered the comment and said, "hm", causing the others to laugh harder. "Never thought about that."

"You never think, kid." Luke countered. "Anyway, so here we are, now with you guys. What about you?"

"We all met up at an evac station that a guy on the radio said to go to." Coach replied. "Imagine how _that_ worked out."

Luke nodded. "I imagine not well."

"You got it, brother." Ellis confirmed. "We've been rescued a lot'a times… none of 'em have worked out… at all… zombie pilot, kicked off a boat, kicked off a military base…"

Luke stopped walking at hearing the last bit. "Really? Why?"

Nick was about to respond with a snappy comment, but a nearby charger cut off his chance. The zombie let out a cry and ran at the group. Luke was the only one who didn't move in time. The zombie grabbed him around the middle and started slamming him against the ground. "Shit!" The man grabbed for his broken bottle and slammed the broken end into the charger's hand. It let out a yell of pain and tossed Luke a few feet away. It prepared to charge again, but Luke was already back on his feet. The man pulled a gun that he had concealed by his ankle and started shooting, getting ready to dive as it got about ten feet away. Once he did, he scrambled back, stopping as he heard a series of loud gunshots, and the charger collapsed. Luke slowly leaned to the side to investigate just what had stopped it.

Nick was facing him, shotgun sticking out, evidence he had just fired.

Luke panted. "Thanks…"

Nick let out a growl, letting the gun go back to its position across his back. He closed the distance between him and Luke, then pulled the blonde man up. "Now you people understand why we need to be quiet around here?"

"We killed it, didn't we?" Rochelle demanded. "If we're stuck together, we might as well get to know each other, huh?"

Nick scoffed. Once he was done, he pointed at himself. "My name is Nick. The end. Moving on." He stormed ahead of the group.

Rochelle crossed her arms but walked all the same, as did the others. "He does that… a lot. You'll get used to it… after a while."

"I hope so." Riley nodded. "I might be tempted to use this thing on something other than a zombie." She twirled the cricket bat in one hand.

Coach laughed. " I like your style… Riley, right? Yeah, I'm still tempted with him."

"I can still hear you people! What's wrong with you?!" Nick called back.

Damon tossed his hands up. "Okay, seriously. What's up his ass?"

"Sometimes we wonder, honey." Rochelle replied.

"Yeah. The boy might need surgery to get whatever's up his ass out of it."

"Did you just call me 'boy', coach?"

"Yeah. I also said you had a lot up your ass. What're you gonna do about it?" Coach replied, chuckling when he heard Nick mumble something about hating people before continuing to walk. "Yeah, you learn to deal with him after a while. Maybe now that he's adjusted to having people around him he'll be nicer to you people."

Luke raised an eyebrow. "Used to having people around him? Why's that? Was he a loner before… this?"

"You could say that." Rochelle replied.

"He was a gamblin' man. No doubt about it… and you know gamblers. No friends… just ex wives… and Nick has one." Ellis added.

Coach laughed. "Easy, Ellis. He hears you complaining about him, you're sure to get shot."

Ellis shrugged. "Just bein' friendly."

"We appreciate it." Riley replied.

Ellis beamed. "You know, this reminds me of the time-"

"NO!" Nick, Rochelle and Coach yelled, covering their ears and cutting him off.

Ellis sighed.

Luke smiled. "Do we wanna know?"

"No. Leave it at that." Rochelle replied.

Damon, Luke and Riley all looked curiously at Ellis, who just smirked.

"Ahem, this time my buddy Keith and I were hanging out with a buncha girls at the mall…"

**A/N: Comments? Complaints? Questions? Drop me a line or two. You know you want to. **


	3. What Were You Before Hell Broke Loose?

If Nick, Rochelle, Coach and Ellis envied about their new companions, it was the family aspect the others had. During one of the latest attacks, Damon had taken a few nasty gashes from a hunter after the young man had tried to lure the infected creature away from the group. After Luke healed him, Riley had marched over to the youngest of the group, smacked him across the face, and then hugged him, demanding that he never did that again. Like any son would, he rolled his eyes and hugged her back, waiting for the fussing to be over with. When Nick took his turn in berating the kid for trying something so stupid, Luke stepped in and shot Nick a look that actually scared the conman. Nick wasn't sure whether to start hating Luke for challenging him or worrying about how fast it took for intimidation to set in. Now they were all waiting in a safehouse, ready to cross through a shopping center and into the next town. While Coach and Luke took turns shooting at zombies directly outside, the others stocked up on medkits and weapons.

"We all set?" Luke called over a couple of Coach's shots.

"Not yet. Almost!" Rochelle replied, attempting to help Ellis get a defibrillator __on his back.

"Hustle, we got more comin'!" Coach added. After a little more shuffling, Rochelle and Ellis' task was done.

"Alright, let's go!" Ellis called.

"Music to my ears." Luke chimed in before throwing his weight against the door. It flung open and he ran the first few steps out, shooting a couple of zombies that had already made the charge. Within seconds, they were surrounded, and just like it had been before, the group separated into smaller groups- Damon and Ellis, then Luke, Nick and Coach, and Rochelle and Riley last. The large crowd was soon thinned down and they managed to move on. They were headed over an overpass when Ellis let out a gasp and ran ahead.

Nick facepalmed. "I swear, if 'Keith' is somewhere over there…"

"Who's Keith?" Riley asked.

"You don't wanna know." Nick replied. "Ellis, what the Hell are you doin'?"

Ellis poked his head out from one of the abandoned cars ahead of them. "It's Christmas again, people! No doubt this guy was doin' some black market shit! We got guns, swords, clubs, bats- hey, Riley! They even got yer' cricket bat here!" He disappeared again, the only evidence he was even there was his shouts of victory every so often.

Riley couldn't help but laugh. "It's good a kid like him still looks forward to that in this time. It's been a while since I've seen anyone so cheerful."

Nick scoffed. "Spend more than a couple of days with him, sweetheart. It ain't all sunshine and rainbows when he gets excited."

"It's still nice to have between all… this." She motioned around at the abandoned cars and scattered garbage.

"Keep believing that." Nick shrugged.

"I will." Riley shot back.

Luke chuckled. "Easy, kiddies."

Nick let out a growl and stalked ahead once again.

Coach looked appreciatively at Luke. So Luke was Nick's downfall to a point. He'd have to remember that for the next time Nick gave anyone a hard time. Just be nice to the blonde man, and you already have Nick annoyed. Yep, that would definitely come in handy sometime. He turned, hearing more zombies. "Incoming, people." Another few seconds, and the new horde was gone. They kept moving, then all let out groans when they saw that their intended destination was blocked by a fence.

Nick threw his arms out. "What is with the world and fences today? Is there a prison in here or something?"

"Only one way to find out!" Ellis waved his gun around excitedly.

Riley frowned. "Are you serious? What if your friend's right? Prisoners-turned- zombies? We'll get our asses handed to us!"

"Ain't stopped us before. Let's go see!" Just like that, Ellis was off, looking for an opening in the fence.

Luke laughed. "Well, I'll go make sure he doesn't get abused. Hey, kid! Wait up!" Luke trotted ahead.

Nick looked at Riley and smirked at the look of sheer disbelief she was giving the back of Ellis' head. "Now d' you see my point with Ellis? Always running towards trouble- never away."

Riley shrugged. "You should've seen how eager Annabelle was to get into dangerous situations." She replied, then winced and looked at Damon. "Day, I'm sorry, man."

The look of pain Damon briefly had on his face passed the second he saw she looked at him. "Whatever. You were just telling him."

Nick rolled his eyes, sick of all the sappy drama that came out of nowhere. "Ah, what the hell? Hold on, fellas! _I'm _the one with the _shotgun_ back here! That'll do more damage then a broken bottle and a couple of pistols!" He sped up, leaving Damon, Rochelle, Coach and Riley alone in the back.

Riley glanced over at the other two and sighed at the 'explain, please' look they both had. "Annabelle was Damon's girlfriend before… _this_." She looked down. "We didn't tell you we had four before this… Annabelle was the fourth. We were all together for just about three days when somehow she got infected. One second, she's just looking pale, not like the zombies, but like she was about to get sick. Next thing you know, she's on top of Damon, screeching and clawing, trying to kill him. Luke and I couldn't get a clear shot to help him … He shot her right through the heart. The guy had no choice… cried for two days straight afterwards."She looked at Damon, who was now red in the face, either from embarrasment of having the information he cried out, or just the memory. She went over to him, put her arm around him and pulled him close. "Sorry."

Coach blinked. "I might'a not loved the kid like my girl, but my first kill was my best student at the school I worked at. It ain't easy, throwing away history."

"No. No, it's not." Damon agreed. He looked at Rochelle. "So who was your first kill?"

Rochelle had to laugh at what was now regular conversation had such a morbid topic. "My friend who worked as a cameraman at the studio."

Damon tilted his head. "You work in film?"

Rochelle nodded. "Kinda. I was a producer for a news company."

"Hmm." Damon nodded, impressed.

Rochelle smiled "Alright, you asked me, I'll ask you. What did you go to school for?"

Damon laughed nervously.

Rochelle rolled her eyes. "Boy, if you think we're gonna judge you or complain that you would've had no future in it, look around." She waved her arms. "We don't have a future, anyway."

Riley snorted. "Wow, way to be depressing."

Rochelle shrugged. "It's the truth. Well, let's hear it."

Damon shrugged. "I was in for Computer Science. You're looking at the resident geek." He replied.

"Aww, you were worried about that? Boy, that may come in handy around now!" Rochelle replied. "I mean, who knows when we'll see a-"

"JOCKEY!" came three simultaneous yells from Luke, Ellis and Nick, a good few yards ahead.

"Okay, that was way too creepy timing." Rochelle deadpanned before running to help the men.

Once they had a clear shot, Luke yanked off the backpack that he had on and swung it to one arm to get the pipe bomb he had out. Another few seconds passed as he tried to figure out where he could throw it to get the jockey and other common infected that had appeared in one shot.

Nick, who the jockey had been chasing in that time, looked at him. "Are you gonna throw the damn thing or not? I dunno 'bout you, but if I had to die by one of these things, I'd pick a tank or a charger, not this back-humper! Throw the damn bomb!"

Luke did. Within seconds, the thing exploded, blasting the jockey and most of the other zombies into pieces. What he didn't count on, however, was having half of the building they were going to cross through go down with it.

Nick stared at the wreckage when the dust cleared. "…Nice, Asshole."

"How was I supposed to know that the building had shit for support?"

"You look at it?" Nick shot back. "Now what the Hell are we gonna do?"

"Would you two stop?" Riley demanded, crossing between them. "Arguing won't get us anywhere. Let's just find another break in the fence, okay?" She offered.

"So he can blow that one up, too?" Nick shot back.

Riley glared at him. "You know, you complaining won't help either way."

"Neither will him carrying a bomb." Nick replied, stepping forward towards Luke, but Riley shoved him back. He had to admit, the girl had some strength behind that medium frame.

"Well, he can't right now, 'cause that was the only one he had. Are you happy now? Let's go." She replied. "Do we need to separate you two like we're in elementary school?"

Nick twitched. "Are you serious? You're going with that approach."

"Sounds like I need to." Riley looked at him. "Now look. If that building was an opening here, then there should be another one somewhat close. We just stay along the wall and look for it. Deal?" She looked at the six others.

Ellis, Damon, Coach and Rochelle nodded. Riley turned to the ones who were not spoken for. "Deal?" She repeated."I'm in." Luke's eyes never left Nick's. After another moment, Nick snarled "Whatever." Riley nodded. "Alright. Let's move on."


	4. The Prison Yard

**A/N: Ah! I'm getting hits and alerts, but no reviews! Come on guys, let me know what you think! I could even go for constructive criticism. Drop even two words. I'd love to get some feedback. This chapter's pretty short because I have a lot of time constraints right about now. Enjoy.**

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The group had learned a short while back that the task they wanted was easier said than done. The wall ended up to be longer than they thought. About three hordes, a tank, and a spitter later, they finally reached a possible escape, but the gate was blocked. Within seconds, what had begun as everyone present discussing a group effort turned into Nick and Luke climbing the wall by gripping the groves in the stone to get to the other side and clear the debris that blocked the way. However, that also turned into a small face-off between the two, since Nick started jeering at Luke, calling him an old man when Nick made it up half the wall faster than Luke had. Boys being boys, Luke sped up, and in turn ended up beating Nick to the other side. When the two managed to clear the way (another race to the finish) and look at their companions, Rochelle, Coach and Riley were glaring both of them down while Ellis and Damon were beaming at the fact that they now had a way back in. The others on the opposite side from the two leaders made their way to the other side and headed across part of the field they were now in.

Riley looked around. It was quiet… too quiet. "Guys, I don't like this…" She reached back and wrapped her hand around the handle of her cricket bat, just waiting for something to jump out and send them scattering.

"Damn it, it is a prison…" Nick mumbled, looking around. "Yeah, this ain't good."

The survivors slowly went into a ring formation, going across the expanse of concrete and grass slowly, stopping every so often if they heard a sound that wasn't classified as one of their footsteps. They were just starting to accept the fact they might've been home free when a hunter let out a shriek and jumped down from one of the balconies above them. Once again, Luke was the unlucky target. Since the hunter attacked from above, Luke still managed to get some leeway. He practically threw himself to the ground, the hunter still on his back, and pulled himself into a forward roll. Within moments, he had the hunter pinned and took hold of the hunter's head. A couple of more swift movements later, there was a sickening snap sound. Luke had broken the hunter's neck, and due to the rotted flesh and bone, the head actually came off of the body. Luke jumped, not at all expecting the turnout and tossed the head a couple of feet to be rid of it. He turned back to his companions, who were staring at him, eyes wide, mouth agape. "…I've forgotten my own strength with this whole thing…" he looked from side to side before pushing himself back up and heading for the gate on the other side of the field.

The group ever so slowly joined him.

After a while, Ellis leaned towards Damon. "Remind me never to put my neck in arms length of him when he's pissed."

"Same here." Damon deadpanned.

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Another few minutes passed, and they were clear of the prison yard. It turned out a giant horde had been waiting for them on the other side of the opposite wall. Go figure.

Luke was confident that his neck-break from earlier had scared the crap out of everyone, so he took it easy during that battle, using the gun he had picked up on their trek along the other wall. He even kept shooting to a minimum until four zombies had Riley cornered. He unloaded several shots into the four to protect her, then moved on to assist Damon and Ellis.

After more walking and a few more zombie encounters, night had fallen. They found a safehouse and assigned watch shifts. They figured now with seven people, they might as well get a good amount of sleep to last them, well, as much of a "good amount" was in their predicament. They settled for each person getting one hour. The girls were first watch, then the younger men, then the last shifts belonged to the elder men.

Little did any of them know, but whenever one member of one of the original groups was up, they would always study the opposite team, looking for little traits in each person or the group to try and really feel them out. Coach noticed that the three others slept extremely close to each other. He wondered if it was just habit by now or they had done some funky things in a moment of desperation. He shrugged the latter idea after realizing how dumb it was. On the other team, Riley caught that no matter what, Nick, even in sleep, would always subconsciously shift away from his companions if they got so much as a foot away. She too was torn between options. Was he just warm, or was it a trust issue that carried into his sleep? She knew certain behaviors carried into someone's sleep, but who knew it could be something like that?

By morning, Nick was in the complete opposite corner than Rochelle, Ellis and Coach, while Luke, Riley and Damon looked like they were rag dolls piled on top of each other. Riley's head was on Luke's arm, and Damon's neck was drooped over Riley's shins.

Coach had to laugh at that. He had seen the boy shift quite a few times during the night, but he never expected he would've ended lying in a completely different angle than he started. After a while, he clapped, startling all the others awake. "Hey, all. We should get up. Find a gas station or somethin'- find out where we are."

Damon sat up slowly and shook his head, causing his bedhead to get even worse. "Whas' goin' on?"

Luke chuckled and got to his feet, taking Damon by the wrist and pulling him up. "We're heading out, kid." He helped Riley to her feet next. "Anybody see anything familiar before? Know the area?"

"I might." Rochelle offered, getting up as well. "I thought I saw a couple of things. The station was all over the place the last couple of months before the infection hit. Maybe we've been here."

"Oh, great, trust the memory of a T.V producer, that'll work." Nick cut in.

Rochelle crossed her arms over her chest and arched an eyebrow. "Actually, honey, it's said that you can't trust _directors_, not producers."

"Tomatoe, tomato, director, producer." Nick replied.

"Mm hm," Rochelle shook her head.

Nick smirked, then cocked his gun, looking at Luke. "So, whatcha say, Luke_ass_. You and me lead out?"

Luke smirked right back, raising his own gun. "No, you go first, I insist."

Nick's smirk faded and he glared at the man before undoing the bolt, kicking the door open, and shooting two zombies that had wandered into the area. "Clear." He called. Once everyone was out, Nick looked at Luke. "Beat that."

Luke tilted his head. "Okay." He pointed the gun squarely at Nick and pulled the trigger.

Nick dove to the side when he heard the shot go off, not bothering to see what it had hiT other than its apparent intended target-him. "What the Hell was that?"

Luke nodded in his direction. "Look."

"You just tried to shoot me! What's there to see?"

"Not you, you moron, turn around." Luke replied.

Nick turned around, seeing a zombie crumpled on the ground, a bulletwound in its head, just under ten feet directly behind where he had been. "…Oh."

"You're welcome." Luke deadpanned.

Nick walked ahead of them, then stopped at the side of the road they were by. He looked left, then right. "That pickup over there looks like it's comin' towards us, so let's head that way." He pointed right.

"And if that guy was headed away from civilization?" Damon inquired.

"Then we turn back… unless Tex has a better idea."

"Nope." Luke replied.

"Good. Then let's go."

Once again, the team followed Nick, unsure of whether or not they were headed towards disaster.


	5. When I Look at You

**A/N: Alrighty, figured give some background on the OCs in this chapter now. The second part of this may seem a little odd, but it'll get somewhere. Sorry that the sections are so bulky, too, but very little dialogue just fit. Sappiness warning, too. Moving on. Don't forget to review.**

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If someone ever told Luke Ross that he would lead two people in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, he'd laugh in their face. Not at the zombie apocalypse, but the leader part.

Why? Because he had never been a leader. Hell, the closest thing to a leader he had been was a big brother to Nathan, the sibling he was three years senior to.

Growing up, if Nathan- Nate, was ever picked on, Luke was there to beat the shit out of the offender and call it a day. Even after their parents gave the boys the 'Nate needs to fight his own battles- not literally' speech, Luke still fought for him- the two ended up being a forced to be reckoned with. They even landed themselves suspensions sometimes.

However, one thing never changed- they always fought to defend the others name. That was the reason alone none of the punishments were too demanding.

Maybe that was what drew him to the military- Fight for what you believe in. However, once he joined the military, the leadership role faltered- he never advanced to a ranking officer. He had no desire to. Time flew in that time, and soon, he realized he didn't like SEAL life much. He stuck it out as much as he could. Incidentally, the day he returned home was exactly a week before the infection took a toll on just about the entire world.

He thought he'd be alright on his own. Phones and computers still worked, so he still had contact with his family. All he had to do was stick it out and avoid populated areas. until they stopped working. After that, Luke had never felt so alone. Then on top of that, he encountered his first zombie and realized the new green flu was far from a bunch of sneezes, coughs, and fevers. He was alone in a completely different way than the first time- or so he thought. He somehow reunited with his brother along the way after he found a place where there weren't many infected people. As expected, that didn't last long, and the brothers were forced apart. Once again, the man was alone… until he met Riley.

He still remembered the look on her face when he pulled her up and out of the water. That mix of confusion, shock, and appreciation all at once. He remembered saying something horribly cliché- in fact, he was pretty sure it was just a couple of words off from a movie quote: "Stick with me if you want to live."

Hell, they made a pretty good team if he said so himself. She listened to orders but still gave off a headstrong vibe. He always liked that in a woman. Hell, she even pulled her weight with fending off the infected bastards who tried to kill them. At first, the only thing that he found moderately odd was her reaction to finding a cricket bat in the bed of some unlucky guy's pickup truck. She picked it up, beamed, and swung it around a couple of times. He got passed that easily and viewed her as the perfect off-limits-for-a-painfully-obvious-reason woman. That was, until the day a tank got the better of both of them once and beat her senseless. Once he managed to finish off the tank, he started to patch her up as best as possible, then noticed an odd look in her eye. She was staring at him, and he didn't like it. He asked if she was dying on him and not bothering to tell him. The question got a laugh, but it didn't last long. The look was back.

"Then what is it?" he remembered himself asking, plain as day. He put his hand on her knee to bring her attention back to him.

After a few moments of staring at him. "I think it's only fair for you to know something. My name's not Riley."

And it was at that moment that Luke realized that there was a lot more trust in their relationship than he thought there was.

* * *

Before the infection- before meeting up with Luke and Damon, Riley McCaffrey didn't exist. There was Meredith McCaffrey. She considered herself to be a simple young woman. Growing up, she was quite the tomboy, playing any sport possible- or that her parents let her play, anyhow. Growing up with four brothers only fueled her competitive streak. That slowly came to a halt for her throughout high school with teenagers being teenagers, coming up with nicknames like "she-man" and other insults. However, the edge came back in college, when she met Riley Corning, a girl with that same competitive attitude. The two hit it off right away, and kept in touch for years after. Riley went off to be an accountant while Meredith went on to be an event planner. When that didn't work, she went back to school to be a vet tech. Luckily, that did. A couple of more years passed, and Riley and Meredith moved in together because cost of living was getting ridiculous, and they wanted a change. The infection hit where they lived shortly after that. To Meredith's horror, Riley was one of the first to be infected. For worry of getting Meredith sick, Riley kicked Meredith out of the house. Now the young woman had nowhere to go. She settled for staying with another of her friends. The infection hadn't hit the new area yet. That didn't last long. It hit, and it hit hard. The shopping mall was only the beginning. Her friend died there, and when Meredith returned to Riley's. she found her friend dead, her skin pale and ripped in different places. Her mouth was covered in blood, as was her torso, where there was a large hole. Meredith didn't know what had caused the mark. She didn't want to know. Every place she knew had become death- how everyone pronounced the last half of her name. Hell, she knew people said it Mere-dith, but most people said mere-death. It wasn't that common, but she hated her name from that point on. She figured with no one left, there was no one to say it anymore, all the same. That was, until she realized she still had her parents and brothers- all unaccounted for and not heard from. She made it her mission to find them, regardless of what she might find. So she started up on her trek to Oklahoma. How she had ever let herself get cornered by zombies during that time, she would never know. Then Luke came along and saved her. After just a brief, simple exchange, she followed him and stuck with him. At first, he didn't give his name, and she didn't give hers. That changed the first time they took out one of the "big zombies." "Nice shot, uh…"

Meredith stared at him for a while, then said the first name that came to her mind, not counting her own. "Riley. It's Riley."

"Hm. I'm Luke."

And so Meredith was gone and Riley was born. She knew it would need some getting used to, but she didn't mind. It was better than Meredith on so many levels, anyway. Besides, chances are they would die soon, so she figured there was really no point in giving him her real name, even if he gave her his own. It meant they were close, and as she learned, close was bad in this situation. That all unexpectedly changed when he saved her and patched her up after a tank attacked. She realized that a Hell of a lot of trust and friendship was already there. So she fessed up and said her name. She expected him to be slightly disturbed. He wasn't. He just grinned and quipped "Nice to meet ya, Meredith" and that was that.

Damon Woods was your typical college student before all Hell broke loose. He went to class, studied, ate far too much fried food than was healthy, and scraped by on just a few dollars. He had great parents, great friends, and the perfect girlfriend, if he did say so himself. Sure, he was the resident geek of his dorm, but there were enough people who still cared for him that he didn't at all mind. Hell, the geek aspect got him a non-official job on campus- computer repair and gamer-assistant, the latter being a title he came up with himself. During the first few days of the outbreak, he would admit that he didn't notice any changes. People were stumbling around and collapsing. Being that they hadn't paled yet, he just figured the people were drunk classmates and moved on. That was until the "drunks" reached their pale complexion. He figured it was some mad virus. He had no clue to what extent "bad" was until he saw one of his professors, the palest he had seen anyone so far- more like grey-skinned now, slash open a classmate's chest and a bunch of others came running. He could barely remember anything else that happened that day other than running to his girlfriend, Annabelle, Annie for short, she always told people, and seeing her running from a couple of their friends. Well, two things who used to be their friends, anyway. He remembered running to a car with an open door, hopping inside, and being besides himself that the keys were still intact. They booked it out of there and driving off. They drove and stopped very little until the gas ran out. By the time it did, they were tired and hungry, which led to them ransacking an abandoned burger joint. Granted, Damon would have never done the action under normal circumstances and even felt guilty doing it then, but seeing the shredded up body of who he figured was the manager convinced him how dire the situation itself- as well as their situation was.

That decision led to their meeting with Riley and Luke, being that the other two had the same idea. The two parties met in the employee locker room of the restaurant, and just stared for a while. In Damon's case, it wasn't just because of the fact they had seen fellow survivors. It was the fact that the woman, Riley, he would later learn, had her jeans on, but only had a bra on on top, and she had been in the middle of changing into a shirt that she had found in one of the lockers. The man, Luke, had his back turned to her up until the point where the other two had entered. Damon recalled that Luke said something, probably to get the attention off of his companion, and when she was fully clothed, he went into what had become basic conversation. 'Are you people bitten or infected or whatever happens to you before you turn into one of those things?' 'Are you armed?', 'Is it just you two?'. Damon remembered bouncing the questions right back at the man. They both shared the same answers: No, yes, and yes once more. After some more conversation, they all agreed to team up to help each other stay alive. "Hey," Damon quipped at some point during the exchange "He may be fictional, but Jack in "Lost"- his whole "live together, die alone" thing works in this situation, doesn't it?" He got laughs in response, but nothing more.

And that was how he started on the path of where he was today. He traveled with them for days that seemed like weeks. And then they got swarmed by a group of regular zombies and two of the big guys. While he, Luke and Riley made it out with scratches, bruises, and pulled muscles, Annabelle wasn't so lucky. He remembered crying the whole night through once they were safe. What took him by surprise was Riley approaching him sometime in the early hours of the day, when he was still crying. He knew that both she and Luke were hesitant about getting close to him or each other, because of what happened to Annabelle. They didn't want to lose someone they cared about. However, just for those few minutes, Riley ignored that unspoken rule. She sat down next to him, then held him as he cried. He was pretty sure she cried with him, too.

Jump forward weeks or months, the three survivors couldn't even tell anymore, and one would come to where they were now- with Rochelle, Nick, Coach, and Ellis. Were they confident they could trust their new company? Not at all, but after what they had been through, they were all willing to give them a chance.

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**A/N: Yay for sappiness in a zombiepocalypse fic. I promise the next chapter will be back to blood, gore and sarcasm. And yes, this is going to be Nick/Riley, but I wanted to get this with the OCs meeting up and forming relationships first, then get to that fun stuff. Hope you enjoyed. **


	6. Sorry

**A/N: First bit is a reference to one of my first experiences with the game when you have to turn on the alarm on the burger place's roof, with one change. I saw a tank coming. What do I do? 'Stay on the roof, those things are too big and heavy to climb that ladder'- two seconds later 'WHAT? HOW IS IT CLIMBING- NOOO, NICK! (gets killed)'… Yeah… not fun.**

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"Everybody here?" Nick muttered as he swiped zombie brains off of his suit. The group had made it to the next town before more common infected had come to be a welcome party. They had found a burger joint and climbed to the roof to get an advantage over them. Granted, they knew the 'little guys' could climb, but not well.

As the survivors voiced or grunted their presence, Damon proceeded to sit on the concrete floor before leaning back and sprawling out. "Can they not give us two minutes of peace?"

"That's impossible, kiddo." Nick replied, then felt the ground shake. "What the Hell is that?" An answer wasn't far away, because a moment later, he felt something slam into him. He barely registered that it was Luke and the blonde man had tackled him out of the way from something until he hit the ground. A moment later, a Smoker climbed over the side and jumped onto the roof.

Nick unholstered one of his magnums and opened fire on the creature. "Since when do these things shake the ground?"

"They don't, _that_ does. DAE, MOVE!" Luke barked, turning his attention to the youngest of the group who had jumped up when the Smoker approached. In doing so, he failed to notice the charger climbing the ladder.

Damon followed his companion's gaze and spotted the large infected. He jumped back just in time to miss the long, powerful swing that the charger took at him. He stumbled and fell back, landing hard on the concrete. The charger stayed focused on him, so he was forced to keep scrambling back. He noticed that his weapons had come off of him in the scramble and cursed. The panic didn't last long when he saw a crowbar a few feet away. Being that the gunfire the charger was being pelted with only seemed to slow the creature down, he realized he didn't have much choice. He turned, and with a cat-like leap on all fours, he dove for it. To his horror, the charger dove for him as well. He barely managed to grab it and swing it around before the charger was just about on top of him. He flinched, realizing his own stupidity was his own undoing. He waited for his life to flash before his eyes, or stop feeling anything altogether, but nothing of the sort happened. He smelled a horrible stench- one of death, and slowly opened one eye. The charger was still in front of him, but had stopped his attack. Damon opened the other eye, then took in the sight of the charger- with Damon's latest weapon impaling it. "Uh… someone hold this thing up so I can get out without being crushed, please?"

Luke and Coach went to help him, and Damon sidled out of the way. The two men let the zombie drop, and they all gagged when the rest of the crowbar went right through it when it hit the ground.

Once Damon finished panting, he looked at his friends. "…Burger joint lookout? … Let's not do that again, 'kay?"

"Agreed." Everyone nodded.

They made their way down back to the ground and moved on.

After a few minutes of silence and three hordes later, the group reached a small outlet mall.

Luke sat down on the curb and took out the broken bottle from his bag and wiped it on the dying grass. No sense in using a weapon that was coated in the essence of something that they were trying to kill. "We should go in to get more supplies." He offered.

Nick laughed, making sure it was loud and obnoxious. "No, pal. Take it from us, you don't wanna go in a mall in a zombie apocalypse."

"We're almost out of water, we need new clothes because the ones we have are torn to shit, and if they have a sports store, some of us need ammo." Luke replied. "We need to take the risk."

There were murmurs of agreement from everyone but Nick. After all but the conman headed towards the building, Nick looked around and realized he was alone. "Well, shit." This was all Lukass' fault. There was no way he was going to stand there and wait alone. He glanced around, making sure the coast was clear, even temporarily, before he ran after them.

Within a couple of minutes, they were in a formal clothing store, so they booked it to the exit into the mall and looked around quickly for stores that would have what they needed, as well as possible incoming enemies. To their luck, there was a small sporting goods store- no ammo, but other things, like possible new weapons as well as clothing. The girls split up but didn't go far, and the men went their own ways as well, making sure there wasn't too much distance between them. While Luke looked for a better backpack that had more storage, Nick went for the area with golf clubs and Coach took the next aisle over with baseball bats. Damon and Ellis stayed in the next section over with the other hockey equipment. No one was quite sure what they were going for, being that they basically dove into the clearance bin and started rifling through.

As Nick took a practice swing with one of the heaviest clubs of the bunch, he froze, hearing what sounded like a jockey's screech, coming from the direction the girls were in. He bolted in that direction, then sidestepped into the section, raising the club. He just about dropped it when he saw that there was no jockey in sight, but the girls- at least Riley seemed to be in a predicament, being that she seemed to be stuck, tangled up in some of the clothes on a rack, and she was holding onto the bar to steady herself. Rochelle wasn't able to help her, being that her jeans were quite literally around her ankles and a pair of sweatpants she was probably going to change into were beside her. "…Oh." Nick coughed, then turned around. _Wait, this is a frikkin' apocalypse, and that is totally not your style in general. Why the Hell did you turn around?_ He turned on his heel, then went over to Riley and shoved some of the hangers away, deciding to give Rochelle a moment to… straighten herself out. "What the Hell happened here?"

"Well, apparently even in dire situations, customers can still be lazy asses." Riley replied, pointing at a large box, probably meant for boots. "I tripped over that and the rack caught my fall."

Nick blinked. "So I take the jockey I heard was just you falling and metal scraping against metal?"

"Yep. Sorry."

"My God, I hate you."

"Good." Riley replied. "But thank you anyway." She tugged her newly aquired sweatshirt down further over her stomach and brushed herself off. "You know, you should try and find something new for yourself, too."

"Honey, this cost me three thousand bucks. This ain't leaving my back, even when I'm dead. Remember that in case you make it further than I do."

"Sure."

"Mm hm."

"Rochelle done getting' her pants up yet?"

"Uh huh." The reply came from both women.

Nick turned to Rochelle and winked. "By the way, sweetheart, don't worry about me seein' that. I've already seen it all."

"Oh, you've already made that clear, sweetie." Rochelle replied, heading out of the area and giving Nick a couple of pats on the cheek. She made sure the last one stung at least a bit.

Riley looked at him, shrugged, then followed Rochelle.

With a scoff, Nick followed after.

When they went back to the area they had all split up at, they found Coach and Luke waiting, looking around for other possible needs, but Damon was grinning. It seemed more like an idiotic grin more than anything in Nick's opinion. "What, kid?"

"Got the best idea I've had this whole time, that's what!" Damon replied. The grin didn't leave his lips.

For the first time, Luke and Nick shared a look of mutual confusion- and impatience. "

"What's your idea, Dae?" Luke asked.

Damon beamed, then unzipped his sweatshirt, showing he had put hockey pads on underneath it. "Hockey pads- a poor, modern man's armor!"

While Nick didn't look amused, the others seemed to consider the idea in a positive light.

"Smart. Bulky, but smart."

"Who cares? That's genius! All I got was the goalie helmet in case we got in some serious shit! I gotta get me some of those!" And just like that, he was off again.

Nick sighed. "That kid needs an off button."

Riley shrugged. "It's not that bad of an idea."

"Says the girl who got tangled in a clothes rack. But hey, if you wanna go and do that and weigh yourself down so those zombie bastards get ya faster, go right ahead. It's just one less person to look out for."

Riley rolled her eyes.

Luke cleared his throat. "Alright. Let's head next door to get some real clothes, then maybe some grub if we've got time, huh?"

"Oh, that's perfect. That gives us a five minute gap to get mauled by zombies who are probably a quarter mile away at the moment." Nick replied.

Luke looked back and smirked. "Then we'll move faster. Let's go, people!" He waved his hand, and the others followed into the mall and into the next store over. They got in, and from there, it was grab and go. Find something practical, find their size, tug it on, and leave. When they reached the health food store, they got water, a few energy bars, and were on their way once again.

They made it out of the mall afterwards, but Nick turned out to be right. A horde was practically waiting for them outside. They managed to cut most of it down. Once two thirds of it was taken down, Damon had the idea to test out how well the hockey pad theory worked. He pistol whipped one zombie, then elbowed another in the face. The zombie's head snapped back as it practically flew backwards.

Damon beamed. "Hey, it works!"

Luke shot the zombie in the forehead as it somehow managed to recover. "That it did, buddy."

Damon nodded, then saw another zombie coming. He picked up a large rock on the ground and flung it at the zombie.

The rock hit its target, only to bounce right off and hit the car that was beside it. Naturally, the car happened to still be armed. The car alarm blared within seconds, and the shriek of a jockey and roar of a tank was heard in the distance.

Being that in the seconds before the alarm was triggered, Nick took down the last zombies, the others turned to Damon. They all had the same look of disapproval.

Damon looked down, then up half-heartedly. "…Sorry."

Luke sighed and raised his gun. "Round two, people."

Coach nodded. "Let's go."

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**Sorry it's short again. Busy week.**


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